External Scientific Advisory Board

Marisa S. Bartolomei received her BS in Biochemistry at the University of Maryland in 1982. She then obtained her PhD in 1987 in the Biochemistry, Cell & Molecular Biology program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She trained as a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Shirley Tilghman at Princeton University. In 1993, Dr. Bartolomei was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 1999 and Professor in 2006. She was also an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for 10 years. In 2006, Dr. Bartolomei received the Society for Women's Health Research Medtronics Prize for Contributions to Women's Health.

Dr. Bartolomei participates extensively graduate and medical education. Among her teaching activities, she the associate director of an NIH-funded training grant program. She has served on numerous NIH sponsored grant review panels and is a member the Human Molecular Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology editorial boards and the Science Board of Reviewing Editors. In 2006 Dr. Bartolomei organized Gordon Research Conference on Mammalian Gametogenesis and Embryogenesis and she is co-chair of the 2011 Gordon Research Conference on Epigenetics.

Dr. Bartolomei’s research addresses the epigenetic mechanisms of genomic imprinting and X inactivation. Her lab is studying the processes by which parental alleles are distinguished in mammals and the mechanisms that lead to loss of imprinting in individuals with Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome and Silver Russell Syndrome. She is also addressing the epigenetic consequences of various environmental perturbations to gametes and early embryos. Finally, she involved in a collaboration that aims to reactivate MeCP2 from the inactive X chromosome in Rett’s Syndrome patients.

Tony Blau is a Professor in the Division of Hematology, Department of Medicine and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington (UW). Originally from Ohio, Blau was drawn to Seattle because of its legacy as the birthplace of bone marrow transplantation, the first stem cell therapy.

His research focuses on a stem cells and regenerative medicine, genome architecture and on developing methods for controlling the fate of transplanted cells. In addition Blau works on applying personalized approaches to the treatment of cancer. He is Co-Director of the UW’s Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine and recently co-founded a not-for-profit institute called Partners in Personal Oncology.

Dr. Blau has lectured nationally and internationally. His research has been published in leading scientific journals, including Nature, Nature Genetics, and Cell Stem Cell. He received his medical degree from Ohio State University and completed his residency in internal medicine at Duke University.

Martin M. Matzuk, M.D., Ph.D., is the Stuart A. Wallace Chair and Professor of Pathology and Immunology at Baylor College of Medicine and Director of Clinical Chemistry at Ben Taub General Hospital. He graduated from the University of Chicago with a B.A. with Honors in Biology, received his M.D. and Ph.D. from Washington University School of Medicine, and performed his residency training at the University of Pennsylvania and Baylor College of Medicine. He is a board-certified clinical pathologist, cancer biologist and reproductive biologist.

Dr. Matzuk has over 25 years of research experience deciphering germ cell, hormonal, and TGF beta superfamily signaling pathways in cancer and fertility. He has published more than 270 papers, holds 12 patents for his biomedical research discoveries, and has lectured at more than 140 symposia in 27 countries. He has received many prestigious honors including the Roy Greep Award from the Endocrine Society, the HypoCCS Award from Eli Lilly, the Pfizer Outstanding Investigator Award from the American Society for Investigative Pathology, the Society for the Study of Reproduction Research Award, and a National Institutes of Health MERIT award.

Dr. Matzuk has held several key national positions of authority. He was chair of the National Institutes of Health Cellular, Molecular and Integrative Reproduction study section (2004-2006) and was co-chair of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund advisory committee for the Career Awards in the Biomedical Sciences (2004-2006) and subsequently the Career Awards in the Medical Sciences (2006-2007). He was a member of the Institute of Medicine/National Academy of Sciences Committee on New Frontiers in Contraceptive Research (2003-2004). He is currently a member of the Board of Reviewing Editors for Science and Treasurer of the Society for the Study of Reproduction.

Dr. Richardson received his medical degree from The University of Western Ontario and subsequent training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. He then attended the University of Oregon Health Sciences Centre in Portland, Oregon for training in Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Perinatal Physiology. He is a member of numerous professional societies including the Society of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists of Canada, the Society for Gynecological Investigation, and the Perinatal Research Society where he has served on both the Executive Council and as the Past President. Dr. Richardson is a Reviewer for several scientific medical journals, is a Board Member and Editorial Consultant to the Journal Early Human Development and the journal Reproductive Sciences. He is a past Committee Member for the MRC Clinical Investigation Committee and was a member of the inaugural CIHR Advisory Board for the Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health.

Dr. Richardson has sat on numerous scientific panels and workshops and has been invited to give over 140 scientific presentations, with many of these at national and international meetings as further recognition of his research contributions. He has published 123 peer review medical articles, 18 book chapters and symposia, and 312 scientific abstracts. He has had long standing support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, initially as an MRC Fellow, and subsequently as a Scholar, with continuous grant support since 1983, most recently as a member of the CIHR Group in Fetal Growth Restriction: Mechanisms and Outcomes. He was the first Wyeth/CIHR Clinical Research Chair in Women's Health and Perinatology providing continued support for his clinical and basic research study relating to fetal behavioural activity and the relationship to brain development. He is presently a Canada Research Chair Tier 1 in Fetal and Neonatal Health and Development.

Yoel Sadovsky received his MD degree from the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem in 1986, followed by OBGYN residency at Washington University in St. Louis and maternal-fetal medicine and postdoctoral research fellowships at the University of California, San Francisco. He then returned to Washington University as a reproductive biologist and specialist in high-risk pregnancy, where he was appointed tenured professor of OBGYN, and Cell Biology and Physiology in 2004. Dr. Sadovsky served as director of the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship at Washington University between 1997-07, and as Director, Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Ultrasound from 1999-2007. In 2007, he assumed Scientific Directorship of Magee-Womens Research Institute (MWRI) in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. The Institute is home to 60 faculty members and another 40 affiliate members within the greater University of Pittsburgh community, all engaged in basic, translational and clinical research in the fields of reproductive biology, development, and women’s health.

Dr. Sadovsky’s research on feto-placental development and trophoblast function parallels his clinical expertise in maternal-fetal medicine. Using human placental cells as well as mouse models, he studies molecular pathways, including miRNAs, that govern placental adaptive response to stress, and the effect of cell injury on placental lipid trafficking. His NIH funded investigation has resulted in the publication of numerous scientific articles and his selection for the Society for Gynecologic Investigation’s (SGI) President’s Achievement Award in 2004. He has served on several National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) study sections, chaired the NICHD Maternal-Fetal Biology Research Study Section in 2005-06, the NICHD Genomic and Proteomic Network for Preterm Birth Research steering committee, and is currently a member of the NICHD Advisory Council. He chairs the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Initiative Advisory Committee, and is a member of the SGI Council and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) Scholarly Activities Committee. Dr. Sadovsky has trained numerous students, residents and post-doctoral fellows, whose work has been recognized and funded by the SGI, SMFM and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). He is the Research Director of the Magee-Womens Basic and Translational Reproductive Health Training Program, an NIH-funded program to prepare junior faculty for a productive investigative career in reproductive biology and medicine.